Open House - A behind-the-scenes view of Manage My Home

Where the bikes are

Since Garret brought up the subject of two-wheeled transportation, it's probably time for me to bring up a home problem I've been wrestling with.

I own three bikes, which might seem excessive to an outside observer, but I assure you each is essential to my well being. Living in a one-bedroom apartment, I wrestle with the proper way to store them, while leaving them available for easy access.

Does anyone know any smart bike-storage solutions?

-Sam, Copywriter

Nothing but 'Net

As any marketer will tell you, they key to reaching people in social media is to be everywhere your customers are. With that in mind, I've been working behind the scenes to get us out on three of the biggest players: Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

If you look to the right, you'll see that Manage My Home is tweeting up a storm. Currently, our main account, @ManageMyHomecom, is providing relevant and timely content to our followers. It's only the beginning - I'm putting together a few pieces on the back end and then I'll be able to announce our other Twitter presence.

One of the great things about Manage My Home is that we have rich content from a variety of sources within the Sears organization as well as trusted partners from other sites. Our Sears Home Services group has produced a wide range of videos to help you troubleshoot your products. YouTube seemed to be the perfect place to expose this valuable content to a whole new audience. Check out our channel and let me know what you think.

Finally, on the big three front, today I put up our Facebook page. I'm still struggling with the right mix of content, Twitter updates and interaction. I hoping to expand our integration with Facebook into more of the services they offer later in 2009. As with all of my marketing efforts, I have to weigh time and cost against the value that our community will receive.

So what's next on my social media to-do list? I've got to get our member photos out to Flickr and while YouTube is great, you can't ignore Vimeo. And then what? That's the great thing about this space, there's always another big player coming into the market that pushes the envelope.

-Alex, Marketing

The Arrival Of The $.01 Daily Commute

As the Manage My Home Industrial Designer, one of the things I try to keep my eye on most is innovations for the home that help consumers save time and money.  On an almost daily basis, it seems I get a tweet about another device for the home that helps save energy and/or reduce your carbon footprint.  But what about when you leave your home?  Are you one of the millions that jumps into your car for a daily Starbucks enhanced commute to the office? Check out the GoCycle which is just launching this month.  At $2000 the price tag may seem a bit over the top for an electric bike, but this one will take you about 20 miles per charge, which is around $.35 per fill up.  Considering that your commute likely costs about $800 a year in gas, this little guy could just about pay for itself in the first two years.  Add in commutes to the grocery or corner Blockbuster and this is a very economical way to go.  Even if you can't make the dollars and 'sense' work, just check out how cool it is!

-Garret, Industrial Designer

Blackberry vs. iPhone: Let the brawl begin

Don Reisinger over at CNET recently decided to trade in his iPhone 3G for the Blackberry Bold.  He got a variety of feedback from hardcore users on both sides.  iPhone fans took it personally calling him many names – idiot – among them.  One of his readers said they literally get sick to their stomach if someone doesn’t like the iPhone.  I echo his same question.  Why is there so much contempt between iPhone and  Blackberry users?  Is this just a passing thing or can you really divide the two users into distinct camps.  Is there a showdown coming?  Would love to hear from both sides as to which mobile device you use and why.  If you had to choose one feature on your mobile device that you could never part with what would that be? 

Blackberry Bold

-Garret, Industrial Designer

Building Codes Assistance Project

A well-designed site presenting technically detailed information digestible by a layperson is a beautiful thing. Behold the Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP).

The BCAP provides information about energy code adoption and implementation. I'm no building code expert and before I found the BCAP site, I spent some time frowning at pools of local codes surfaced by Google. What I like about the BCAP site is that although it's written for professionals, it is so well written and clearly designed that even those of us who don't have a wealth of code knowledge still glean key information.

The Code Builder feature, for example, breaks codes into segments sorted by building system. For example, if you click on the Mechanical Ventilation link, BCAP gives you a concise summary of issues that arise and solutions. If you need more information, you're taken to a secondary page complete with advance code and policy options. The site doesn’t overwhelm the reader with wordiness or flashy features.

As we develop the voice of Manage My Home, implement new applications and diversify our content, we should keep balanced, clear sites like BCAP fresh in our minds. 

-Erin, Writer